Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Alpha Net wasted no time in sending me a confirmation email that I had been accepted into their test pool.
“Welcome to Alpha Net, your premium AO matchmaking service powered by AI. Our Alphas are pleasure-trained professionals guaranteed to make your heats an experience you won’t forget.”
The app test was coming up soon, and part of the contract I signed was agreeing to use it at least once during the weekend.
The best part was it all lined up with my trip to Las Vegas for the Baking Expo.
My heat was due on the tail end of their testing days, so I could go there, buy some fancy new gadgets for the bakery, maybe pick up a new technique, and hook up with an Alpha that I never had to see again.
A perfect plan.
I packed my bags, took an extra inhibitor just in case, and headed to the airport.
I couldn’t wait to leave just for a few days and forget about everything else.
The Baking Expo was the highlight of my year.
Not to mention, I might just get some hot sex out of the arrangement too.
Hopefully that would make me stop thinking about the one Alpha who had no business lingering in my thoughts.
After a lengthy check-in process at the airport, I boarded early and got comfortable in my business class seat.
So cozy. As I sipped champagne and waited for take-off, I pulled out my phone to check if Abby had texted me.
There was an email from Alpha Net, giving me instructions on how to download the app and create an account.
I had to fill out a profile, naturally, of my basic details.
Age: 24. Height: 5’5”. Hair color: strawberry blonde.
Secondary gender: omega female. And then it was onto my partner preferences.
Alpha female. What height did I like? Taller than me.
Around my age, but I was willing to bend a few years in either direction.
Once that was all filled out, the next section popped up.
Kinks.
Oh. Well. I mean, that was to be expected, of course.
It was optional to fill out, but I didn’t want to match up with someone who liked ball gags and spankings.
The kink list was so long, I was tinged pink all over my face by the time I checked NO on almost everything. Sounding? Cock warming? Snowballing?
What the fuck were all of those terms?
I was old enough to know some things, but almost everything on the list was new to me. Anal. I knew that one. That was a no. Orgasm control? No. Ugh, god. This was humiliating. I doubted a single person would match with me now.
On a whim, I decided to click a few kinks.
Dirty talk. I clicked two more, just in case.
Praise kink. And humiliation. That was probably a stretch.
I wasn’t sure if I was into either of those things, but there were a few instances where I didn’t mind them.
Hearing an Alpha whisper filthy things into my ear, degrading me for enjoying every second of their cock, and praising me all in the same breath.
Some of the best sex I’d ever had was utterly humiliating, and yet, whenever I thought back to those times, I always got so damn horny.
Stop it. No thinking about her this weekend.
For once in my life, I wanted to not think about her.
Alpha Net might be for hooking up, but maybe I could use it for something else.
Maybe I could find a real partner, someone to build a life with.
I didn’t really believe in the mindset that omegas had to ‘settle down’ at some point, but…
it would be nice to have someone to wake up to.
Submitted. Good. Now to wait, for what could hopefully be a real connection.
The app gave me a cheerful beep and told me my answers would be reviewed before the testing started.
The final step was my profile photo. I still had on an oversized fuzzy sweater for the cold airplane air, and my makeup was a bit faded, but my hair looked cute.
I snapped a selfie, making the cutest face I could, and uploaded it to my profile.
Finished. The next time I opened the app, all of the Alpha females that matched my preferences would show up on my screen.
How long would it take? I hoped I could pick someone out before my flight was over, maybe message them to feel them out first, but four hours later the plane was preparing for landing, and I hadn’t gotten a notification yet.
Lame. Maybe it was taking a while for them to sort through everyone’s profiles for the testing.
Or maybe I was just too different and no one would ever match with me and my three vanilla kinks.
The airport felt like an oven, full of people coming and going, no doubt making everything hot with their body heat.
Was the air conditioner broken? Moving as fast as I could, I rushed through the airport and took a deep breath of relief when I got outside.
The cold February air cooled my heated skin, and I almost shivered as I waited for my Uber to get there.
It was a short ride to the hotel, long enough that I was already hot again from the car heater.
This was so annoying. My heat wasn’t due until Monday, but this really felt like one.
I never went off cycle, not even by a day.
After being dropped off, I rolled my suitcase into the hotel, already tugging at my collar to cool myself off.
A single bead of sweat rolled all the way down my back.
That was almost a sure sign I was about to be in heat.
I never got this sweaty unless my cycle was coming.
If I was lucky, it wouldn’t be for a few days.
I would take another inhibitor, and just continue my day like normal.
Feeling itchy, sweaty, and uncomfortable, I checked into my room, wiping my sweaty forehead before taking my room key. It could just be a cold. Maybe I needed some medicine instead.
With my room key in hand, I slipped it into my pocket and turned towards the crowd of people lingering on the other side of the hotel foyer. I recognized a few faces, all people I’d seen at the Baking Expo before.
“Daphne!” Julia, a face I knew. She ran a bakery in Chicago, and had recently expanded to three new locations.
Right beside her was Cassie, the bubbly beta who was just on that famous baking show in England. She knocked them all off their socks with her sponge cake. “Daphne! So nice to see you. How is Sweet Sensations doing?”
“We’re doing great! I just launched a new eclair recipe.
Abby was over the moon taste testing it.
Then again, so was I.” I gave my round tummy an appreciative pat, and they giggled along with me.
Amidst the laughing and sharing stories, my eyes drifted to the rest of the lounge where the other Baking Expo people were, all of us waiting for the activities to begin.
Mother fucker. Jade was here. I don’t know why I was so surprised, she came every year just like I did, but it always felt like she was following me.
Sitting there in her tight skirt and her button up shirt, with just a few too many of the buttons undone so we could all see her ample cleavage.
Those thigh high tights and stiletto heels made her look taller than she was, and she was already tall enough. God, she was such a show off.
Bringing her drink to her lips, she gave her friends a quick smile before taking a sip.
Her silver eyes darted over to where I stood, as if she knew I was there the whole time.
A jolt went up my spine, along with another bead of sweat.
It was so hot in here. I wanted to claw my sweater off, but I wasn’t wearing anything underneath it.
Jade stood and walked over to me, her heels clicking on the wood floor. Her bangs were always so perfect, not a single hair out of place. “Ladies. Daphne. Nice to see you. Paisley loved your cake.”
Stop it. Was it her life goal to torture me?
I plastered on a smile, trying not to scratch the itch on my neck with my sweaty hands. “Oh, lovely. The icing was a new recipe. I’m glad she liked it.”
Eat me, Jade.
“It’s still so funny to me that your sister always orders from Daphne’s bakery,” Julia remarked, a smug grin pulling on her mouth. She was a frenemy if I’d ever seen one.
Cassie never let comments like that stand. Giving us her best bubbly smile, she locked arms with me and wiggled for extra cuteness. “Daphne makes the best cakes, so I’m not surprised. But yours are just as good, Jade.”
“Thank you, Cassie,” Jade said, her eyes lowering, focused on where Cassie was touching me. Her eyebrow twitched, and a muscle ticked in her jaw. “I never see Daphne as competition. People enjoy both of our bakeries.”
Stop sweet talking. You’re such a schmoozer.
People enjoy both of our bakeries. Give me a break.
The only reason she opened Blissful Bites was to mess with me and try to steal my success just like her father.
Even the name was similar to mine. I just had to get through this weekend, and then I could go back to pretending Jade didn’t exist.